Paris Olympics 2024: Are the Olympic beds really made of cardboard?
As the Paris Olympics 2024 inches closer, one peculiar aspect of the Olympic Village has caught people’s attention: the cardboard beds.
Ever since the rumors broke out that the Paris Olympics authorities would be using sustainable cardboard beds, people have speculated the reason behind using cardboard materials to prepare the beds of Olympians from all over the world.
Reasons ranged from it being ecologically sustainable to preventing athletes from getting intimate. The latter claim was debunked four years ago when the cardboard beds made their Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020.
Irrespective of the reasons, athletes arriving at the Olympic Village in Paris have confirmed that the beds are indeed made of cardboard. The beds have ‘three modules’ that allows the athletes to set the mattress’ firmness and the frame’s length, as per a TikTok video posted by the official Olympics account.
Why is Paris Olympics 2024 opting for cardboard beds?
The reasoning behind choosing cardboard beds for the Paris Olympics 2024 is ecological responsibility. The beds, made from recycled cardboard by the Japanese company Airweave, have a small environmental footprint and will help this year’s summer Olympics in being more ‘green’.
Despite its lightweight nature, the cardboard beds are as sturdy – or even more – than their wooden counterparts. They can sustain up to 250 kg of weight and are already used in disaster zones and relief shelters.
The use of cardboard beds will also result in reduced usage of single-use plastics, resulting in the promotion of ‘sustainable sporting structures’.
The Paris Olympics 2024 committee has made it a priority to make the Olympic Games more sustainable, and has invested 52 million euros in the Paris 2024 Environmental Excellence strategy. Among that, 15 million euros has been earmarked to make this year’s Olympic Games ‘fully carbon neutral’.
The Tokyo 2020 organisers had earlier said in a statement that the beds would be ‘recycled into paper products after the Games’, and that would seem to be the plan in Paris as well.